Saudi Arabia courts have sentenced a Leeds University student to 34 years in prison for owning a Twitter account and using it to retweet dissident activists.
Salma al-Shebab, 34, was on holiday in her home country Saudi Arabia. Salma was accused of using Twitter to ‘cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security” following her tweet on women rights in Saudi Arabia.
Salma, a mother of two young sons aged 4 and 6 was at first sentenced to 6 years in prison. However, a terrorism court in Saudi Arabia sat on Monday Aug 15 and increased her jail term to 34 years. This is because she appealed her sentence.
During the sentencing, the court pointed at Salma’s social media use where she expressed support for women rights in the country and stood in solidarity with other women rights activists who are in prison. She called for the release of women rights activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul and others.
Salma was first arrested because she retweeted a post from Al-Hathloul’s sister Lina. This is what she said in the tweet:
“Freedom for Loujain Al-Hathloul … Freedom for all prisoners of conscience. Your freedom is my first wish for this New Year – Happy New Year.”
In the past, Selma would retweet posts from other dissident activists who are living in exile abroad.
The state prosecutors further accused her of “providing succour to those seeking to disrupt public order and undermine the safety of the general public and stability of the state, and publishing false and tendentious rumors on Twitter.”
Salma was arrested in January 2021 while in Saudi Arabia for holiday. This was just a few days before she was due to fly to the UK to continue with her doctorate studies. She was a PhD student at University of Leeds.
Dr Bethany Al-Haidari said that: “Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse.
“It is unfortunately no surprise that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman feels more empowered than ever in presiding over such egregious rights violations.
“The ruling for Salma’s sentence cited her social media account, where she was supportive of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and called for her freedom.
“Though Salma was initially sentenced to 6-years in the first instance court, the sentence was increased to 34 years during the appeal. This is the longest known sentence for a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia.”
Loujain Al-Hathloul, who was wrongfully held in prison, was released just weeks after Salma was detained.
Salma had called for the release of Al-Hathloul from prison which led to her own arrest and detention.
“It is ironic that while Loujain’s release was celebrated, Salma remained behind bars on the ground that she called for that very release,” Al-Haidari added.
“It’s a pattern for Saudi authorities to ensure that women activists can’t celebrate or take credit for any of their hard-won victories.”
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